Birth Stories & More, Part III - Elijah

Birth Stories & More

Part III – Elijah

Up bright and early May 8, 2008 super excited that today was going to be the day I finally see my baby! We get to the hospital labor and delivery ward right on time and I change into the hospital gown. I lay in the bed and they checked my cervix just before starting me on the Pitocin drip. I was right around 3cm and 80% effaced, which was awesome that I had progressed a little bit over night! Two hours later, at 9am, I was checked again and to my happy surprise I was already 5cm and fully effaced! Wasn't labor supposed to be long and painful? I felt GREAT! Sure I felt the contractions, but they were not bad at all.

Next thing I know my OB tells me I’m going to get my epidural because, “you’re not going to want to feel this”.  He was going to break my water! Holy cow!  BTW, I had already told him I wanted an epi during labor, and doing early was A-OKAY by me! Lol

Getting the epidural was AGONIZING PAIN!! I think my anesthesiologist might not have been as gifted in this area as some others, or maybe it’s how I was positioned. I don’t know, but it was horribly painful!!!  But I did not cry, I have to say, I was extremely tough given the intensity of pain. Danny said he could tell it was bad because my right foot flexed out, while my left foot was curling and I can only imagine the expression on my face.

Fast forward 20 minutes or so and I’m tingly and numb! In comes my OB sometime after that ready with a hook to break my water. YIKES! It was the craziest sight ever, and Danny was just as shell shocked as me. OB reached inside which we swore was up to his ELBOW to break my water. GUSH!!! “OH MY!” Gasped one of the nurses as they stood back in awe of just how much water I had! And I recalled him telling me, “you are not going to want to feel this”, and I am so glad I didn't!

As soon as the Niagara Falls of my womb stopped and I got cleaned up, I noticed my belly was significantly smaller already! And I COULD BREATH!!! Ahhh, finally… AIR!!  Eli had been suffocating me for months I carried him so high!

My OB then tells me labor is going so well, he expects I will be ready to push by early afternoon. I was super excited! So for the next few hours I just chill out numb in my bed watching old reruns of the Andy Griffith Show, enjoying each contraction, which cuz of being numb I guess, just felt like pelvic pressure.  I just knew with each passing contraction I was that much closer to his big arrival.

Time went by fairly quickly, for me at least. Danny was bored to tears practically. At 2pm my OB comes back in and asked with some sarcasm, “Where’s the baby?”  I guess he thought he would have been paged by now.  He checked my progress and had a look of concern on his face. He then starting talking to the nurse next to him in medical language I didn't understand as if I wasn't even in the room.  I asked, “What’s wrong?” There was a brief pause, but he explained to me I had stopped progressing, in fact, I had regressed.  I was stuck at 5cm, and my cervix had swollen completely closed. He told me they can try to reduce the swelling by tilting my bed so that my feet were high, head lower, so that the baby’s weight would not be putting so much pressure and hopefully after a couple hours the swelling will begin to go away.  He said after a couple hours of lying ‘upside down’, there should be some progress. “If not, it’s not going to unswell and you will need a c-section”.

Hearing those words felt like the wind being knocked out of me. My cervix had swollen closed?! C-section?! But this was all going sooo well! So then for next couple hours my mind was overwhelmed with the information I was told. It felt like an eternity waiting to be checked again. But finally I was, and he told me there had been no progress at all, and I needed a c-section. Then he asked, “Would it be okay if I did an emergency c-section now before you?”  I responded with “yes, of course”.  Really though, I was relatively comfortable and could wait a little longer. My ‘relatively comfortable’ quickly changed though while I had to await my c-section, because contractions were no longer exciting, but more of an uncomfortable nuisance.  

Finally, about an hour later, off I go, wheeled in my bed to the operating room. A very large, very bright room with a ton of surgical staff! Wow! Magically I’m lifted with strong hands that I couldn't feel onto the operating table. My arms were then strapped down extended out to the sides. Then a blue sheet was placed at my collar bone so I could see nothing at all. Danny was given instruction to put on white, disposable hospital scrubs and meet us back in the O.R. in a few minutes.

During the c-section, all I could feel was strange numb tugging and swaying left to right. Danny says my body was moving A LOT as they were pulling Eli out. First thing OB says when he sees Eli, “Well hello there!”  Apparently he was facing “sunny side up” and OB was surprised to see Eli looking right at him! Haha! OB held Eli high so I could see him above the blue sheet, and Danny and I gasp in utter shock of his appearance! CONE HEADED like you would not believe!!

Hearing Eli’s first cry was the most amazing, beautiful sound I had ever heard. I felt a single tear rolling down my right cheek in awe of this miraculous birth. The time of birth shouted out, “6:01pm”. I wanted to hold him, and touch him sooo badly! But with my arms strapped down, and being sewn up, it just wasn't possible. I actually didn't get to hold him until 3 hours later, the longest 3 hours of my life! And when I first held him, wow! Overwhelming joy! My 7 pound, 5 ounce baby boy, head was then much less cone headed. He was tan, with brown hair and eyes, and beautiful! <3 

Three days later, Sunday May 11th, Danny and I take Eli home for the first time. And it's Mother's Day! It was an amazing day, and hands down the best mother's day gift EVER!